How Michael Roberts and his football-sized hands fit into the Lions offense

ALLEN PARK -- Hands were a problem for the Detroit Lions last season. They dropped more passes than everybody except the Jets and Raiders, while Eric Ebron (third) and Marvin Jones (eighth) both ranked among the top 10 perpetrators league wide.

Hands were definitely an issue.

But they won't be for new Lions tight end Michael Roberts. Not when they're actually bigger than the football.

Roberts' hands checked in at 11 5/8 inches at the Senior Bowl. That makes them the biggest mitts in this draft, just 0.125 inches off the all-time combine record and bigger than the 11-inch footballs that'll be whizzing at him on Sundays.

"You shake his hand when you guys meet this guy, like, you can't even see your hand in there," Lions GM Bob Quinn said with a laugh. "At the pro day ... he shook my hand and I kind of just took it out real quick and kind of gave him a fist bump because I just felt a little uncomfortable."

Detroit still has Ebron under contract for at least one more year, plus a club-held option worth nearly $8.5 million for 2018. The deadline for that decision is today. Quinn says it won't be affected by Roberts' addition because he's a different sort of tight end.

And that was the appeal of adding Roberts. He complements Ebron's skill-set, rather than replicates it. He's a different breed of tight end.

Ebron has improved as a blocker, but that will never be his forte. He's an athletic pass-catcher, at his best when he can split out and create size mismatches with defensive backs or speed mismatches with linebackers. That's called the "F" tight end in this offense.

Roberts, meantime, will play what's called the "Y." That means he's playing more attached to the offensive line, and at 270 pounds, he's built for the in-line thing. He's an enforcer capable of moving people around as blocker.

But he also has the versatility to be a factor in the passing game as well, using those big mitts to haul in 45 passes last year. And what was especially appealing to the Lions is he used that big body to do much of his damage in the red zone.

Of his 45 catches, 16 scored touchdowns. That led all tight ends nationwide, and should help the Lions address their issues punching the ball into the end zone.

They scored a touchdown on just 54.2 percent of their red-zone trips last year, which was 17th in the league. (And that dropped all the way to 47.8 percent on the road, which was in the bottom 10.) Now they might lose Anquan Boldin, who led them in touchdown catches with seven.

So adding scoring weapons was important for the Lions in the draft, and they snagged a couple big ones for Matthew Stafford in Roberts and receiver Kenny Golladay (6-foot-4).

"Red area target is exactly right," Quinn said of Roberts. "Big guy that, for his size, runs well enough. I mean this guy isn't a 4.5 guy, but for being 275 pounds, this guy moves pretty good. So I'm excited to add him to the group."

Because Roberts and Ebron fill different roles in the offense, Detroit now has the personnel to expand their two-tight end packages. That's something Quinn saw create mismatches when he was in New England, and the Lions tinkered with some of those looks last year. Stafford completed 22 of 26 passes out of those formations.

But the Lions couldn't run them more because once undrafted rookie Cole Wick cooled off, Ebron was really the only pass catcher at the position. Not anymore.

"I've been a fan of Eric Ebron, you know, since he was back in N.C.," Roberts said. "I've watched him closely while he was in college, I watched him while he was in Detroit. Great athlete. I'm very excited to work with him."